As human beings we move from one reality to another, crossing so many bridges that we become bridges ourselves: between countries, between cultures, between periods of time, between our own memories.

Most of the time we simply keep moving.

Sometimes synchronicity, the meaningful connection between seemingly unrelated events, stops us in our tracks and asks us to reevaluate and reinterpret how we see our lives and their connection to others around us. The Other Immigrants by Saba Husain is a revealing expression of one of those moments.

Passing through the soaring architecture of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, in the footsteps of travelers and immigrants from many lands, Saba is transported back to her home in Lahore, Pakistan. It was a whisper carried across the famed Whispering Gallery that took her back to childhood under the lemon trees. She hints with an eloquent simplicity at a sense of continuity between her younger self and the self that now makes a home in this distant land. It seems, almost, that she could step across time and into the streets of Lahore, taking us with her.

Saba Husain, published in Natural Bridge Journal #34, Fall 2015

Note the path that winds its way through Saba’s words. How exhilarating and humbling to experience a moment in which the pattern of your life reveals itself!

3 thoughts on “Buried Memories: The Other Immigrants by Saba Husain”

First of all I must congradulate Saba.She is an amazing poet& her poetry is very thought provoking.It touches the heart.I read it over & over again & am fascinated by her choice of words.My best wishes to her.Hope she keeps on writing for all of us to enjoy & think over lots of things she says.